Instagram is Obsessed With These High-Fiber Crackers

Forget avocado toast and acai bowls — if you’ve been following health gurus on social media lately, your feed has been filled with dry, thin, grain-filled crackers. The popular products come from Scandinavia, and they’re called GG Fiber Crispbreads (GG’s crackers for short). The crackers caught calorie-counters’ attention based on their low-calorie, low-carb, and very high-fiber nutrition label — basically a dieter’s dream.

“Eating GG’s helps boost your metabolism, absorbing fat and calories to leave you feeling full,” claims Tanya Zuckerbrot MS, RD, who popularized the crackers after featuring them in her best-selling diet book, The F-Factor Diet. “They fill you up, without filling you out.”

Zuckerbrot discovered the crackers 20 years ago, “on the bottom shelf of a health food store covered in dust,” she told The Daily Meal. “At the time, I was working with diabetic and cardiovascular patients in a clinical private practice setting and was looking for a bread alternative.”

When her clients tell her they’re craving bagels or toast, Zuckerbrot tells them to crunch on a cracker.

“GG crackers are one of three allowed sources of carbohydrates on the first stage of the F-Factor Diet,” she explained. “F-Factor Dieters eat up to eight crackers per day — usually four at breakfast and four at snack in the afternoon.”

However, other dietitians aren’t so keen on the cracker craze. Focusing on fluffing your meals with fiber to avoid eating carbs and calories is a habit that’s not likely to feel good long-term.

“It's not just about fullness — satisfaction is even more important,” Alissa Rumsey, MS, RD, told Refinery29. “You could eat high fiber crackers and feel full, but if you aren't satisfied, then you’re more likely to continue grazing.”

“Oftentimes, low-calorie alternatives to ‘everyday foods’ such as breads, pastas, potatoes, and rice, are simply not as satisfying as the real thing and leave us wanting more,” registered dietitian Lindsay Sparks explained to The Daily Meal. “We can often feel deprived and end up seeking other foods to fill the void of what we really wanted. We need a balance of all the macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins, and fats) to help our bodies perform their best and to meet our vitamin and mineral needs.”

So replacing toast with cardboard-thin crispbread might not do the trick.

But that hasn’t stopped Instagrammers from trying. Influencers have devised all kinds of superfood-coated designs to adorn these plain crackers. One influencer topped hers with dairy-free cream cheese and a cauliflower rice egg scramble.

Seems like excessive prep for a simple, skimpy cracker. If you have to paint your food with designs of coconut butter or chlorella to choke it down, you might not really be craving that snack.

“They tasted like dried-out cardboard…” Instagram influencerMichi Lazoff told The Daily Meal. “But the honey raisin one is a little more edible?”

Maybe not everything on Instagram tastes as good as it looks. If you’re less concerned with how your diet photographs and would rather just eat healthy, here’s some research-backed advice about carbs you can chew on.